It's Dark
by BlueSunRedMoon
Summary: "It has been ten months since Rin had been captured. It has been ten months of frantically looking for him, with no clue on how to find him. Today was the day he was supposed to come back." A romance story between Shima and Rin.
1. Waking Up

_It's dark. _

"_That's because you have to open up your eyes dummy."_

_Oh. _ He slowly raised his eyelids, but quickly snapped them shut when something fell into them. It didn't sting and it wasn't a horrible sensation.

_It's just weird._

Curiosity took hold of him, and he opened his eyes again, though this time he did not shut them when the weird sensation came. Arma watched as little white flakes fell from the sky. White flakes. His eyes widened in shock allowing more flakes to fall onto his eyes.

He couldn't remember the last time he saw the color white. In fact, he couldn't remember seeing the color white ever, though he obviously knew what it looked like. Arma continued to stare up at the sky.

Other then the weird white stuff falling from it, there was something else that was different about it. Then it hit him. The sky was blue. Not the harsh blue of his father's flames, or his own, but a nice, light blue. The sky was always black, sometimes the occasional red, but never was it blue.

He slowly turned his head to the side and then winced when he felt a nip at his cheek as it came into contact with the soft ground. He furrowed his brows. Soft? Nothing was soft other then his family's beds. He scanned his surroundings. There were trees covered in the weird white stuff, but nothing really familiar. Plus, he was outside.

_I'm definitely not in any of my brother's rooms, and there is no way father would have white in his room. _

Arma turned his head up to the sky again, his face scrunched up when he realized he had no idea where he was.

_Oh well, best way to fix that is to explore._

He slowly started to get up, and then winced once again when he felt a painful tug a his tail. He looked down and saw a little demon cat, his tail in its teeth.

"What was that for?" Arma looked into the cat's eyes accusingly. He felt something else though. Recognition? Trust? Relief? He shook his head to clear his mind. _Must have hit my head or something,_ he thought.

"_You have to stay here Rin! Don't worry they're coming to get you."_

He felt a small push in the back of his mind, but it went away as soon as it had appeared.

Arma's eyebrows shot up and he pointed up at himself. "Huh? My name isn't Rin."

The cat stopped tugging at his tail and stared up at him. At that moment he felt the presence of humans. He snarled and jumped up, but stumbled a bit as a wave of nausea washed over him.

His father had told him about humans. He said they were a nasty lot, who would try to kill him the moment they saw him, because he was the son of Satan.

Humans didn't like his father because after humans died, it was his father's job to keep the really bad ones in his after-life prison. His father had explained this to Arma long ago. He was told if he came in contact with a human, it was kill or be killed. Though he never told his father, he actually never really liked to kill things like his other brothers. He would only engage in violence when he felt it was necessary.

He was about to activate his flames in hopes it would scare off the humans, when the cat below him transformed into a larger one. This wasn't surprising, but when the cat stood in front of him, growling protectively, he felt something weird again in his mind. It wasn't an unpleasant feeling, just weird and unfamiliar. He furrowed his brows again and stuck out his bottom lip.

"Hey, kitty, I just met you and stuff, but I'm a prince of Hell, so that means I protect you." He walked around the cat, and gave it an odd look when it stiffened at his words. Maybe it didn't like to be protected. Arma could understand that. He hated it how his father kept him locked up in the castle. He tried to escape a bunch of times, but each time he was caught and punished severely.

He grinned in pride. He had finally succeeded. In fact he had gone above and beyond! If there were humans here then that meant he was on Earth. He had escaped Hell. His excitement grew until he was grinning ear-to-ear and twirling in laughter. Then he heard a shout from a little ways away.

He stopped twirling and looked out into the woods. _Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. _He had completely forgot about the humans. He started to panic and turned around to face the cat.

"Hey. I know I just met you but can you give me a ride?" Arma laughed awkwardly and scratched the back of his head. The cat stiffened again, and stared at him blankly.

"_No."_

He stopped scratching the back of his head, a bit surprised at the cat's abrupt answer. "Oh. Uh. Okay. I guess I'll just go this way then." He gave a small smile to the feline demon and started to jog away from the voices that were getting way to close for comfort. _Crap. I really don't want to kill anyone!_

A yowl came from behind him. He twirled around to face the cat, its eyes were looking straight into his, and it was yowling really loud. Loud enough for the humans to hear. _Oh crap._

"_No! No! No! You are Rin Okumura! You do know me! This is not the first time we have met. I am your familiar! Why are you acting like you don't remember?"_

The cat shook its head back and forth howling and hissing at him. Arma tried to calm him down and continually apologized to the cat, but it just yowled louder. Then he heard a voice, that was way too close. He turned his head to face a human with . . . bright pink hair? _Gosh didn't have that in Hell either. _

Arma stood there as still as possible, waiting for the human to do something. Though it seemed like the human had decided to do the exact same thing. He didn't know exactly how long he stood there but it felt like eternity. He took advantage of that time to study the human. The human's hair was pink, which was obvious from the beginning. He had to be around Amra's age, maybe a little older. Arma looked down to see the staff in the male's hands. _Oh, great. He's an exorcist. _

He started to activate his flames, but for a second time he was interrupted.

"You're finally back." The human boy smiled and fell to his knees. Arma stared, eyes wider than wide in shock.

_Well this wasn't the reaction I expected._

The boy seemed oblivious to Amra's shock. He was just sitting there on his knees staring at him. "You kept your promise Rin. You've finally escaped."

Arma furrowed his eyebrows when he heard that name again. _Man this Rin guy really must look like me._

Finally the pink-haired guy seemed to realize he wasn't getting the reaction _he_ was expecting, and got back onto his feet again. "It's okay Rin. It's me Shima." When Arma didn't say anything, the boy's expression turned frantic.

"It's me Rin. Shima. Shima Renzo!" Arma just stood there expressionlessly.

"Why aren't you saying anything, Rin? It's me. It's Renzo." The human's voice cracked a bit at the end. He took a step towards Arma, and Arma took a step back.

The look the boy gave him when he did that was painful to see, but Arma couldn't let this go on much longer. Even though this human seemed okay, he could hear more voices and there was no sense in fighting right now. Arma turned around and sprinted away, ignoring the loud yell that seemed to echo in his brain.

He turned a corner, but then came face to face with the cat from earlier. It hissed at him, telling Arma something, but he didn't stay long to listen. For some reason, he really did not want to kill the humans. Panic rose through his veins, causing him to run faster.

He stopped short when he heard a click from behind him. Arma slowly turned around to come face to face with himself. No. No, it wasn't himself. There were several differences, but the human's face did really resemble his own. He stared at the human look-alike for a few seconds, until he saw what he was holding. A gun, it wasn't pointed at him . . .yet.

_Dammit._

"Nii-san? I know you are scared, but you have to calm down. It's just us." The human spoke with a calm stern voice.

Arma snorted at his words. "I'm not the one who should be scared here!" He looked straight into the human's eyes and glared. Maybe he could scare them off. He activated his flames, purposely enhancing them to grow bigger. "I have no idea who you humans keep on confusing me with, but I am not this Rin guy." He saw the human's eyes widen, but other than that, there was no other reaction.

Arma sighed, _looks like I have to talk big. _He pulled his shoulders back and drew his blade. "I am the son of Satan, and you are a human. I could take you out with one flick of my hand! If I were you, I would be the scared one."

At this, he got more of a reaction. A bit too much of a reaction. The human lifted his gun and fired.

Arma felt a pinch on his arm, and then started to feel drowsy. The world was spinning around him, and his legs give out from under him. He heard a shout, and turned his head slowly to see who it was.

The pink haired guy was being held back by other humans, Arma's not-so-look-alike just stood there, not paying any attention to his comrade. That annoyed Arma. He tried to tell the guy off, but his face fell onto the snow before he could get his voice out.

_Snow. That's what it's called._ That was the first time he had learned something on his own about Earth. He smiled lazily in accomplishment. He had no idea why, but he never wanted to go back to Hell. Coming back to Earth was the best thing he had ever done. He slowly closed his eyes. _Wait. 'Back?' This is my first time here….Stupid brain._


	2. The Wait is Over

**Wow. I had no idea so many people would review and like it. Thank you so much to everyone, and sorry for the long wait. Even though I really want to, I don't think I'll be able to have a set time to post chapters. I'm still trying to get the hang of High School. ^^; Oh yeah, I forgot to put the disclaimer on the first chapter...*sigh* Well here it goes:**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Blue Exorcist, yadyyadyyada, I own no characters, blah blah blah, everything except this plot is owned by Kazu Kato.**

* * *

><p>It's been ten months since Rin was captured. It has been ten months of frantically looking for him, with no clues what so ever. Ten months since Rin promised he would be back. Today is the promised day.<p>

He knew he should be out searching. He knew that he shouldn't give up hope, because there was still time but…but some part of him couldn't believe that. Some part of him just couldn't believe that this day would be any different from the other three hundred and six days.

Shima Renzo stared up at his ceiling with blank eyes.

When did he start to care so much? Where was his usual carefree attitude?

_That went away a long time ago._

Despite his mood he smile at that thought. _Yeah, long ago…_

Memories of smiles, lustful laughs, and sweaty skin raced into his mind. They seemed so real. So alive.

_But not alive enough._

Shima cursed the sudden pessimistic thought that ruined his peaceful reminiscing.

He didn't know exactly when he formed a negative side to his personality. Maybe it had been there all along and it just surfaced after . . .that incident.

He groaned and rolled over so his face was smothered in his pillow. He didn't want to think of the depressing parts now. Too much of his present life was just that. Depressing parts. He groaned again in desperation.

If he knew falling for Rin was going to lead to this much trouble, then he would have never let himself talk to the loud, obnoxious teen. Or gaze into those deep blue eyes of his, or stroke that soft, midnight black hair, and he would have never, EVER, have tried to pull that tail of his, because when he pulled it just right Rin would make the-

"Arg!" Shima threw his pillow across the room and flopped back onto his bed. He laid there for a minute, his mind blank, until the feeling of guilt slowly crept into him. He knew that wasn't true. Even if he knew what would happen, then he would have still eventually fallen for Rin. It was inevitable.

Shima was so wrapped up in his thoughts he almost didn't pick up his cell phone as the third ring began.

Ever since Rin was taken, he had picked up every single phone call and checked every single text he got. Only about one out of ten were actually about Rin, and only a few of those were even helpful. Most were just small, vague updates from Rin's brother.

Shima looked at the caller ID. Sure enough it read '_Okumura Yuiko'. _

"Hey." Even his own voice sounded different. It was too strained and heavy.

"You have to come to the class room right now."

Usually the stern teen didn't respond until a good two seconds after Shima's greeting, so when the anxious voice on the other end didn't even bother to say hello, Shima was a bit surprised and annoyed. He plastered a fake smile on his face, and said with a cheery, teasing voice, "What? Class on a weekend? You're working us way to hard sensei."

His voice sounded too sarcastic even to himself. _God, I really got to get myself together._

"Rin's familiar is gone. Come to the class _now_ if you care about my brother at all," with that he hung up.

Shima sat still on the edge of his bed frozen in disbelief.

Rin's familiar had perched itself on the top of the school's roof. It hadn't even moved when winter came around. It just transformed into its bigger version so it wouldn't be covered completely by the snow. If it was gone then that could only mean one thing. It had sensed the presence of its master.

His cell fell from his hand, and he sprung into action. He grabbed his K'rik and ran out of his door, heading for the exorcist cram room.

Each turn and staircase seemed to elongate as Shima ran through them. Window by window he passed, door by door he sprinted through, girls he would normally stop to harmlessly flirt with, were pushed passed and ignored without a second's thought. He wouldn't be late this time. Not again. Never again.

He finally pushed open the last set of doors, panting and out of breath. He saw the rest of his classmates grouped around the desk the professors use. Despite his flashy entrance they didn't look up right away. They all were concentrating too hard on whatOkumura was saying.

Shima briskly walked over to the small circle his peers had made. It was then Okumura stopped talking.

"Glad to see you made it." His voice was monotone. His face had the same expression he always seemed to have now a days.

Shima just nodded seriously and stared down at what the others were crowded around.

It was a map of a forest he knew quiet well. It was the Academy's forest zone, where he- along with everyone else- discovered the truth about Rin.

He noticed a thick red line that stopped in the center. _Where we set camp, _Shima realized

"So as you all know Rin's familiar has been sitting on the Upper Eastern Tower ever since his," Okumura paused and sighed, "ever since he was taken by Satan."

A heavy atmosphere started to fill the room as everyone looked down and grimaced.

"I knew he wouldn't come down until Rin came back, so just incase I put a tracking devise on his collar." Shima looked up sharply, his eyes wide.

"As you see on the map in front of you, I have traced where it has gone. About thirty minutes ago it stopped moving."

Shima felt a spark of anger inside him when he heard Okumura say that. He opened his mouth to say something but was beat by the loud voice that came out of his friend next to him.

_Good ol' Bon, _he thought dryly.

"WHAT? What do ya mean thirty minutes ago? We could be gone by now! Why are we even still here?" Bon yelled at the stolid boy in front of him.

"If you let me finish talking th-"

Sure enough, Bon didn't let him finish. "Stop talking as if this is some stranger! This is your brother you are talking about! Don't you want to frickin' save him?"

"OF COURSE I DO!" Okumura gave out a frustrated yell and slammed his palms onto the desk. Everyone was staring at him now; even Bon was shocked into silence.

"Of course I want to save him! I've been wanting to save him for ten months now, but I've been unable to do anything!" Okumura's shoulders sagged in defeat.

_So I'm not the only one whose been counting the days…_ Shima thought sadly.

"Yuki-chan," Moriyama-chan placed her hand on top of Okumura's. He looked up at her and met her eyes. They seemed to hold a silent conversation that lasted a moment or two.

_A moment or two that could have been used to find Rin. _Shima grinded his teeth_._ He was losing his patience.

Okumura took a deep breath and began again. "As I was saying," he gave a pointed look at Bon, who just grumbled something and folded his arms, "Thirty minutes ago Rin's familiar stopped moving, _but_ I only noticed a few minutes after and then I had to get you all here." His serious eyes moved across the room meeting each gaze with a stern look.

Shima felt another spark of annoyance when the teenage teacher's gaze seemed to linger on him longer than everyone else.

"You all need to realize something before we go. Rin was captured by Satan. He was taken into Gehenna and we have absolutely no idea what has happened to him. There is a big chance he is not the same Rin we all know. He may have even turned into a complete demon. We may even have to fight him."

The atmosphere tensed when this statement dawned in everyone's minds. Shima started to feel a bit nauseous. Of course he had thought about Rin coming back broken. Who wouldn't come back from Hell with some type of wound, mental and physical? Though, now that he was so close to having him back he just couldn't- no- wouldn't think about the possibility of finally getting Rin, only to find he wasn't Rin anymore.

No. He wouldn't think like that.

"You all also have to realize that if he is changed, and if we have to fight him, we have no back up." Okumura looked back down at his hands. "I promised my father I would protect Rin. If I had called for back up, then they would have probably sent exorcists who Rin doesn't know and would kill him on the spot if he showed his flames. By just going ourselves, Rin may not feel so threatened." He looked back up with a surprising amount of emotion in his eyes. "If you go, I will be forever in your debt." He then bowed, his hair covering his clenched eyelids.

A look of agreement passed between the exorcist students of True Cross Academy.

It was Moriyama-chan who put a hand on Okumura's shoulders and gave him a determined smile when he looked up. With that, Okumura picked up the map and said he would explain everything else on the way.

**/3 **

He was so close. After so much searching, he was so close. Shima walked with a fast pace next to Okumura. If this was a normal mission Shima would be in the back of the line, complaining to Bon or Koneko, but needless to say, this wasn't an ordinary mission.

While walking- more like running- Rin's brother had explained the precautionary measures they had to take when they found Rin. There were no sudden movements and no quickly running up to him. If they saw him, before anything, they had to make sure Rin knew who he was. This was all if Rin was even awake though, or if he wasn't seriously injured. Which Shima seriously doubted because the teen had excepted from Hell. He didn't care that Rin was probably ten times stronger then him, there was no way anyone could escape Hell without a scratch.

To be honest, Shima didn't think he could follow the rules though. Sure enough, his suspicions were proven true when Okumura traced the red line on the map and said, "We are almost there you guys. Be prepared."

Shima couldn't take it anymore. He couldn't take the waiting. It was just a few more yards to the clearing and there was no way he was going to take his time getting there. So he took off running ignoring the shout from behind him.

He ran with his eyes wide, letting a single tear that was filled with all the stress from the past months, fall down his cheek. It was finally over! No more lying in bed until the last possible moment, wishing he could go back to sleep because his dreams were better then reality. No more depressing thoughts that seemed to plague his mind when Rin wasn't with him. No more faking his smile because he didn't want his friends to find out how weak he was without Rin by his side. No more.

A smile of pure happiness and joy broke through his skin when he finally entered the clearing. At first he didn't see Rin, but when he looked straight ahead and through a few trees he saw the face he had been searching for.

Shima ran a few more strides closer to Rin. He was comforting his familiar who was yowling shrilly.

"He must have really missed him too." Shima said unknowingly out loud.

Rin's head turned sharply to look at Shima, his gaze causing him to stop in his tracks.

Rin didn't seem to have any deadly injuries, but he did have a gash on his right arm. It was bleeding, but it wasn't gushing out blood like Shima was expecting. Even if it was, it would be hard to tell with the color of Rin's…. dress shirt? It was a deep blood red that contrasted with the white snow around him, it made him pop in an almost gaudy fashion.

What added to that look even more was the silky shine the shirt had to it. The pants were a bit better, except they looked like they were skintight, which Shima didn't mind actually.

""You're finally back." Shima felt himself fall to his knees and a smile form on his face. He looked into those blue eyes he had missed so much. "You kept your promise Rin. You've finally escaped."

Shima waited for a response but something was off. Rin hadn't reacted at all when he saw him. _Is he mad at me?_ Shima thought lamely.

'_There is a big chance he is not the same Rin we all know.'_ Okumura's voice ran through his head and his eyes widened. _No. No, please let it be anything but that._

He got up and let his hands fall to his sides. "It's okay Rin. It's me Shima." He looked hopefully at Rin's expression, but saw nothing but confusion. His smile faded into a worried grin.

"It's me Rin. Shima. Shima Renzo!" Again, no reaction. Now he was starting to panic.

Shima felt his eyes water and his smile was gone. "Why aren't you saying anything, Rin? It's me. It's Renzo." His voice cracked, but he was too scared to care. When Shima took a step towards Rin, Rin took one large step back.

_No._

Rin stared at Shima for another two seconds, his face showing no hint of recognition.

_Please God, no._

Rin turned around and took off running.

"NO!" Shima screamed after Rin. He fell back onto his knees and pounded his fists into the snow. He let the tears fall freely now. He didn't care that Okumura ran passed. He didn't care when the others passed and Bon told them to go. He didn't care that Bon was squatting in the snow in front of him and gently patting his head. He didn't care. He only cared about the boy who probably had no idea who he was.

"Are you just going to sit here?"

Shima looked up to see that Bon had stopped patting his head and was now looking at him with an annoyed expression.

Shima wiped his face with his shirtsleeve and pathetically looked down at the pure white snow.

"What do you suggest I do?"

Bon's left eyebrow twitched and he almost growled when he spoke. "Don't you love him?"

Shima knew better then to argue. When dealing with Bon it was easier to just follow along. He sighed shakily and replied, "Is it that obvious?"

Again Bon's eyebrow twitched. "Well then, why are you giving up?"

This got Shima's attention. His head shot up and he glared at his best friend. "_Give up? Give up?_ For ten months I've been feeling as guilty as hell because I blame myself for not being strong enough to save Rin. I have been holding on for ten months believing that he was going to come back and everything was going to go back to the way it was, but the second I have him in my grasp he just slips away! Don't I have a right to give up now?"

Now both eyebrows were twitching. "No you don't! The only reason he was able to slip away is because you let him. Now get up and go find your stinkin' boyfriend before he goes berserk or something!"

Shima blinked up at Bon who had already gotten up and was starting to jog away.

_He's right._

Shima slowly got up and started to run the way he saw the others go. He got there just in time to see Rin fall to his knees, Okumura's gun still pointed at him.

"What did you do to Rin?" Shima yelled as he tried to run over to Rin when he saw him fall into the snow. Bon and Koneko were holding him back lightly.

"Relax," Koneko said, "it's just a tranquilizer."

Shima stopped struggling and just stood still. He felt the weight of his friends' hands fall of him.

It made Shima sick to his stomach that Rin had to be shot down with a tranquilizer, as if he was some out of control beast. He slowly walked over to Rin's unconscious body. No one tried to stop him this time, even Okumura didn't protest when Shima sat down in the snow nest to Rin's head.

The pink haired boy carefully turned Rin onto his back, and took him in his arms. He held him in his lap and hugged Rin close.

"He didn't recognize me." Shima looked over his shoulder and met Okumura's eyes. "He has no idea who I am."

Okumura broke their gaze and looked back at his brother. When he spoke his voice was soft and strained. "Shima-kun. . . Rin has no idea who _he_ is."

* * *

><p><strong>Whew. There was some angst there but don't worry there are fuzzies and fluff down the road. Thank you again for everyone that did review and thank you to those that are going to! If you spot something wrong, like a type-o or something please tell me. Also, if you think I'm ever making the characters too OOC, just type up a review and tell me. It would be greatly appreciated.<strong>


End file.
